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Multimedia Systems

notes In early hypertext systems links were just simple electronic pathways with a fixed origin and
destination. But now, if you revisit an e-commerce website, you may find an automatically
generated, personalized link inviting you to buy a new book by an author whose books you
have previously purchased. Furthermore, this link may be gone the next time you visit the site.
Do we need to distinguish between links that everyone sees and links that only appear under
specific circumstances?
A limitation of the navigation paradigm is that it does not correspond to the full range of user
behaviour. At times users do not think spatially; they just click the most promising links they
see. Designers, in fact, have begun employing a different metaphor for web use—the metaphor
of the “information scent.” The idea is that users, like animals foraging or hunting for food, look
for strong and distinct scents that point them toward their desired goals. Designers, therefore,
should strive to create links that give off these strong and unambiguous scents.
2.4.3 information structures
Designers of websites and other hypertexts must work hard to decide which nodes will be linked
to which other nodes. Only with thoughtful linking will users be able to navigate successfully.
Fortunately there are well-known arrangements of nodes and links—often called “information
structures”—that guide designers as they work. By far the most important of these structures is
the hierarchy. Also important are the web-like and the multipath structures. These information
structures are shown in Figure 2.1.

figure 2.1: the Hierarchical, Web-like and Multipath, information structures

22 LoveLy professionaL University